Project description

Project description

Background anc challenges

- In Tajikistan about 20% of a household budget is allocated to energy; despite these large expenditures on fuel, in winter, the temperature inside a house can dip below freezing due to a lack of insulation and inefficient heating devices.- Environmental insecurity: intensified pressure on natural resources will increase resource scarcity and increase peoples’ vulnerability to natural disasters.- Lack of capacity at the national and local level to implement concrete actions to sustainably manage natural resources due to the lack of a broad systemic view. Lack of capacity to learn from past experiences in order to develop coherent strategies for the future.- Undeveloped potential for job creation and sustainable economic activity among the artisan sector.

Objectives and solutions

Over its 30 years of experience in cold Asian countries (India, Nepal, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, China and Tajikistan) GERES has developed locally-adapted technologies, and closely supported the structuring of a sustainable private sector to allow a large-scale dissemination of energy saving solutions.

Currently, GERES aims to enhance sustainable economic development in Tajikistan by disseminating appropriate technologies and know-how, and by the following:- Introducing energy saving devices through demonstration sites. Lasting demand for these technologies among the population will be ensured by the technologies’ affordability, proven social acceptance, and promotion from the very start without subsidies.- Strengthening small entrepreneurs in the private sector through technical, business management, and marketing support in order to build their capacity to respond to the increasing demand for energy saving solutions (double-glazed windows, heating and cooking stoves, and insulation coupled with solar architecture techniques).- Encouraging the engagement of local authorities in solutions to Climate Change, including the implementation of strategies to combat erosion, and promote soil and water conservation(composting, mulching, water harvesting and land management). Similarly, local authorities will be informed in how to create an enabling setting for income-generatong activities in this field.